Finances and Personnel

Quick Facts

ARL Statistics

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a membership organization of the largest research libraries in North America. The ARL has conducted a major survey on the collections, expenditures, staffing, and service activities of its members annually since 1961. The data thus collected combine with earlier data collected by James Gerould to form a consistent dataset covering 1907 to the present. Tennessee has contributed data to the survey since 1963.

Since 2003, ARL has calculated the Library Investment Index, which is “a measure of relative size” and investment among peer institutions that does not serve to measure the quality or success of a library’s services.